Name: History vs. Thomas Jefferson - Frank Cogliano
Uploaded: 2023-01-15T14:21:05.000Z
Duration: 6 min 13 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

He was part of America's fight for freedom and equality.

But were his enlightened principles outweighed

Find out on History versus  Thomas Jefferson.

Order! Order! Hey, that's one  of the guys from Mt. Rushmore.

founding father of the United States of America

and primary author  of the Declaration of Independence.

The document that established  the US as a democratic republic

on the principle that everyone is created equal.

If by “everyone” you mean  property-owning white men.

one fifth of the colonies' population  was enslaved.

Surely he couldn't be expected to single-handedly overturn

Couldn't he have just written  that into the Declaration?

and the document had to be ratified by the Continental Congress.

He included a clause opposing  the slave trade,

Nevertheless, Jefferson recognized slavery as an immoral institution

But Jefferson's words never came close to matching his actions!

As Virginia's governor, he did nothing to change the state slave laws.

And in his personal life,  he held over 600 people in slavery.

Furthermore, he believed Black people were intellectual inferiors who,

if emancipated, should return  to their countries of origin.

Frankly, there's no argument that Jefferson did anything significant

But Jefferson did make  important contributions

to religious, financial, and gender equality.

He led the charge for separating church and state,

removing government funding  for Virginia's Anglican Church,

and paving the way for our modern understanding of religious freedom.

Jefferson also drafted laws that weakened the power of inherited wealth

and pushed for the state-funded education  of boys and girls.

All valuable reforms, but you're avoiding  the fundamental issue here.

None of this benefited enslaved people or Indigenous Americans,

and it's ridiculous to argue that Jefferson was pursuing equality

when his policies frequently harmed non-white groups.

Policies such as authorizing the military

to exterminate Indigenous communities during the Revolutionary War.

Objection! Those Northwestern tribes were allied with the British.

In peacetime, Jefferson did his best  to avoid conflict with Native Americans

and believed they could be equal  to whites.

“Could be equal”? Listen to yourself!

Are you defending his attempts to forcibly assimilate Indigenous communities?

Jefferson's recommendations even formed the basis

Thomas Jefferson served as a diplomat and Secretary of State

before being elected as Vice President under John Adams in 1796.

A role in which he undermined the President's authority.

Jefferson argued that states  should have the power

to overrule federal laws they deemed unconstitutional—

an argument some Southern states would cite while seceding

I think it's a little unreasonable to lay  the entire Civil War at Jefferson's feet.

Besides, his defense of states' rights was motivated

by the president's overreaching central government.

As part of Adams' preparations for war with France,

he signed legislation that tightened restrictions on immigrants

Jefferson was just trying to protect the public.

And ultimately, his efforts were  so popular that he was elected

He only won because states were allowed to count enslaved people

towards their population without giving them voting rights.

This system gave states that held people in slavery additional voting power

in the Electoral College  until the Civil War.

Be that as it may,  Jefferson was a popular president.

He worked to prevent the country from taking on too much debt,

and successfully led the US through the Napoleonic and the Barbary Wars.

Plus, he dramatically expanded  the country's territory

Where he once again failed to stop slavery from taking hold.

I'll remind you that President Jefferson signed a law

forbidding the importation  of enslaved people in 1807.

And yet he continued to enslave those already on American soil—

Jefferson began a relationship with her half-sister and maid, Sally Hemings.

Jefferson fathered six children with Hemings

while continuing to publicly denounce the personhood of Black Americans.

Jefferson freed several members of the Hemings family,

Despite enslaving over 600 people, Jefferson only freed 10.

Five during his life and five in his will—

Even I have to admit,  this seems indefensible.

Despite pursuing what he believed  to be equality,

Jefferson failed to uphold his own ideals.

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History vs. Thomas Jefferson - Frank Cogliano

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